


High

by StainedGlassSpecs



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Discovering Powers, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, I love all of these idiots, Post-Season/Series 01, Psychic Abilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 05:07:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18087989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StainedGlassSpecs/pseuds/StainedGlassSpecs
Summary: Diego Hargreeves and the Mysteriously Levitating BrotherorThey took a break in time to help Vanya develop her powers, but she's not the only one who's evolving.





	High

They travelled back through time, and Diego didn’t know what Five had intended, but it probably wasn’t _this_. The seven of them were still adults, still fucked up, and in Ben’s case, still dead. Only, they were stuck in the early noughties, hunted by the Commission, and unable to show their faces in case dear old Dad got wind of it.

Five, true to form, decided to pretend that this didn't phase him in the slightest. “It’s an intermediate period,” he told them. “I’ll take the opportunity to find out more about Vanya’s powers, and help her learn to control them. When we try again, we’ll be more prepared. Know what we’re dealing with.”

Diego was privately relieved that Vanya didn’t just kill them straight off the bat. She looked more like her normal self, sullen and subdued, but he knew there was power lurking beneath the surface. She still had no real idea what she was capable of.

Little did any of them know, she wasn’t the only Hargreeves sibling off her drugs, suddenly forced to deal with new and terrifying abilities.

_

It had been a long night. Diego trudged back in the door close to four am, feeling uncharacteristically weary from fighting crooks and jumping over rooftops. He even took a few scratches and bruises home with him; nothing too bad, but enough to sting. It occurred to him that maybe, just possibly, he was getting too old for this. Then he scoffed at himself. Five was almost sixty and _he_ wasn’t too old to be an assassin, so Diego wasn’t too old to be a vigilante.

Five didn’t approve of the night-time patrols. He constantly said that they weren’t supposed to even _exist_ , let alone fight crime, and what if it got back to Old Man Hargreeves somehow? Diego’s argument was that he would kill one of his siblings if he didn’t let off some stream now and then, and besides, this wasn’t his first rodeo. He knew how to fly under the radar.

Sometimes Allison joined him. She didn’t use her powers, but the good old kick-punch method worked just fine for her, and Diego could tell that she needed an outlet as well.

Tonight, she hadn’t gone with him. Loathe as he was to admit it, Diego had grown to depend on having her at his side. He was clumsier, less vigilant. Hence the battle scars. He’d need to go out by himself more often and re-learn how to go solo.

Diego made his way to the kitchen. Their new apartment was nice enough, if significantly _smaller_ than he was used to as far as shared living spaces went. He didn’t miss the Academy, exactly, but he sure missed his old boiler room. No siblings living there, no sir, especially not ones that were creepily co-dependent, or popped in and out of existence to condescend to him, or sung too loudly in the shower. He often fantasised about moving out. But it seemed that every time he tried, some crisis would befall them, and it wasn’t worth the worry of leaving these idiots alone for longer than a night.

Not that he cared for their welfare, or anything.

Diego fixed himself a sandwich in the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer. He managed all this easily without switching on the lights. This was mostly to avoid waking up Klaus, who slept on the sofa when he wasn’t crashing in Diego’s room. He _could_ have had his own room, technically. But he seemed to prefer it this way. Diego didn’t mind, because it allowed him to check on his brother more frequently.

On this particular night, Diego was feeling a little run down, so he didn’t actually glance at the sofa until he was on his was back to the room. Then he stopped and did a double-take.

Klaus was there, all right. But rather than lying _on_ the sofa, he appeared to be hovering several feet _above_ the sofa, curled up in a weird, horizontal foetal position.

Diego stared. Rubbed his eyes. Stared again. Klaus mumbled something in his sleep, and bobbed up and down in the air. One of his arms slipped and dangled down, his fingertips brushing the upholstery.

Diego finally processed what he was seeing, and he gave a shout of alarm, stumbling backwards to turn on the light. This startled Klaus into wakefulness. He dropped out of the air and onto the sofa with a yelp.

“What the fuck, dude?!” Diego said.

“What?” Klaus’ head popped over the back of the sofa, looking confused and dishevelled. “Who’s trying to kill us?”

“No one! Why were you floating?”

“Why was I _what_?”

Luther stormed into the living area, pulled his overcoat on over his pyjamas. Allison swanned in at a much more sedate pace, yawning, and Vanya wasn’t far behind her. When Luther saw Diego, Klaus, and no apparent threats in the room, his face fell into a scowl. “What is going on?”

“I don’t know!” Klaus wailed.

Diego narrowed his eyes and pointed at him. “Don’t play dumb. You were hovering in the air like Sabrina the Teenage Fucking Witch!”

Klaus looked at him as if he’d grown three heads. Now, it wasn’t that Diego thought that Klaus was incapable of being a deceitful little shit just to make him look stupid, but in this case, he seemed truly oblivious. It was possible that he hadn’t been entirely conscious until his head hit the sofa.

Luther also turned to look at Diego, and did a double take of his own. “Why are you bleeding?”

Diego crossed his arms defensively. “I’ve been working.”

“Some of those look bad,” Vanya observed, sipping a cup of tea that had probably gone cold hours ago, like the nocturnal freak that she was.

“I’m fine! Can we please get back to the fact that Klaus was _floating in mid-air_?”

Luther turned to Klaus tiredly. “Were you floating?”

“Um. No?” He turned to consult the thin air beside him, and then promptly ignored it. “No!”

“Great, well in that case, I’m going back to bed.”

Diego gaped at him. “Seriously?!”

Allison was still staring at a particularly nasty scratch on his abdomen. It had already started to heal at a rapid pace, but the blood-soaked leather probably didn’t look great. Okay, so there were a couple of reasons why he didn’t turn the lights on when he got home. “Diego, we might take your observations more seriously if you weren’t suffering from sleep deprivation or blood loss.”

“I am not!” He stumbled as she dragged him to the bathroom for a patch up. “I am _not_ delirious!”

“Okay, Diego,” Vanya said mildly, heading back to her own room. Diego regretted ever putting actual effort into being nice to her so she wouldn’t destroy the world.

“Have a nice night!” Klaus called weakly from the lounge. Diego glared at him on his way out. He’d catch him next time.

_

The next time it happened, Five was off doing ‘training’ with Vanya (exactly what that entailed, Diego didn't want to know), and Allison and Luther were … well, Diego didn’t know or care. The point was, it was just him and Klaus at home on a rainy afternoon. He was polishing his knives on the table, and Klaus was siting on the floor, talking to Ben. At least, Diego presumed it was Ben.

He had one earbud, listening to music while he worked, in and was totally absorbed in his task. It took him a moment to realise that Klaus was no longer sitting on the floor, but sitting several feet above the floor, still cross-legged. Not only that, but his eyes were glowing blue-white. He hadn’t stopped talking.

Diego did not freak out this time. He froze and stared, his heart pounding.

Klaus did not seem distressed. In fact, he didn’t even seem to notice. He just kept mumbling away, his hands moving in complicated motions, holding a conversation with people that Diego couldn’t see.

“It hurts, it hurts. Yeah, baby, I know. Baby, baby, baby.” Klaus let out a slightly hysterical giggle, and drifted closer to the ceiling. Diego shot to his feet, torn between curiosity and fear. Klaus had been different since quitting the drugs. He manifested Ben quite often, and occasionally others. If they were being chased by the Commission, or dealing with a criminal, he offered insights into what the previous victims had gone through. He didn’t _enjoy_ it, but he was willing to help. It was almost like they were kids again, when he’d actively used his skills to participate in missions. Diego was glad to have him along; he just wished that his eyes didn’t look so haunted afterwards.

In any case, this was unlike _anything_ Diego had seen before. Not when they were kids, and definitely not as adults. He didn’t know if it was good or bad, and he really didn’t like the uncertainty.

As he watched, an odd expression crossed Klaus’ face. His eyes widened in surprise, then terror, a flash of blue-white in the dim light. Some instinct made Diego dart forward, catching him before he dropped right out of the air. He grunted with the impact and fell to his knees.

Klaus’ eyes blinked open, once again normal and not glowing. “Oh, hello,” he said woozily.

Diego sighed. “What do you remember of the last ten minutes?”

Klaus made a face. “I think I was dreaming. Must have fallen asleep.” He shot a cross look to the side. “Quiet, you.”

“What’s Ben saying?”

“Oh, I don’t know. He’s just being a dick.” Klaus wrapped his arms around Diego’s neck. “I’m tired,” he whined. “Carry me to my room?”

Diego rolled his eyes. “Fine, but only ‘cause you’re delirious.”

Klaus smirked and kicked his legs. “My hero.”

_

They were all back at the Academy, looking for information while Dad and their younger selves were out on a mission. Pogo was doing some research in the Amazon. They wouldn’t get a better opportunity than this.

Diego found himself loitering at the top of the stairs, close to Grace’s charging station. He’d promised himself (and Five, although he told himself that he wasn’t beholden to any of his siblings, let alone the one who looked thirteen) that he wouldn’t disturb her. It was too much of a risk. Diego knew and accepted that, but all the same, he couldn’t help himself. He waited until all his siblings were busy searching the mansion, before approaching her on the landing.

She had her eyes closed, and her face was frozen in recharge. But Diego knew how quickly she could light up with warmth and affection, or fall into an exasperated scowl. She was a robot; he knew that. But she would always be his Mom.

“You okay?” Klaus’s voice said. Diego looked up, and saw him sitting on the railing, holding a jar of peanut butter.

“Aren’t you supposed to be searching the kitchen?” he snapped.

Klaus dug his spoon into the peanut butter. “I did, see?”

“And did you _find_ anything?”

“Come on,” he scoffed. “Like anyone expected there to be anything important in the _kitchen_.”

He had a point, Diego realised. Despite everything, Klaus was still not trusted with the really important work. Even Diego wouldn’t have told him to look in the study, if he’d been in charge of delegation.

Klaus gestured toward their mom. “She still charging?”

“Yeah.” He brushed a thumb over her forehead, echoing the millions of times she’d done it for him. “She’s asleep.”

“Asleep. Hmm.” Too casually, Klaus said, “Do you want to bring her with us?”

Diego stared at him. “What?”

“I mean, what harm would it do? Besides free her?”

“Gee, let’s see. All the kids in this house would be left without a mother, for one thing,” he snapped.

“If Five is right, these kids won’t even exist soon. He wants to overwrite them, before this even happened.”

Diego knew that, even if he didn’t really understand it. For a second, he seriously considered it; taking Mom, and having her with them again. Maybe she’d be happier, freer. Maybe she’d unfurl and evolve. But deep down, he knew that it was a bad idea. “I don’t think she’d want that,” Diego said. “She was created to take care of seven kids. She wouldn’t know what to do with _us_.”

“Hmm. I guess. She’d rather die with the kids.”

Diego looked up sharply. Klaus was swinging back and forth precariously over the bannister, his feet not touching the ground. He looked so distant. “There’s so much death in this house,” he said conversationally. “Did I ever tell you that? It’s old. And Dad, he … he killed people. I didn’t think it was weird, before, to see ghosts in the hallways. But I forgot what it was like.”

“Klaus,” Diego said, taking a step forward. “Get off there, okay? You’re gonna fall.”

“Like that woman,” he whispered, and tipped back over the railing. Diego gave a shout and darted forward, but it was too late. Klaus fell maybe a metre, but then he hung suspended in the air, his eyes filling up with blue-white fire. It was so far from the ground; when he fell, it would hurt. Maybe even kill him.

Five appeared suddenly beside him, crouched upon the railing like a gargoyle. “Fascinating,” he murmured, watching Klaus float.

“Stop staring and get him down!” Diego shouted, already running for the stairs.

“How do you propose I do that?” Five said. “I don’t levitate, Diego. Not for more than a millisecond, anyway.”

“I don’t care!” Diego shouted, halfway down the stairs. His eyes were on Klaus, so he didn’t see Vanya as she ran straight into him with a dull _smack_. “Fuck!”

“Ow!” Vanya said, and the look in her eyes reminded him of concertos and explosions, but he didn’t have time to worry about it. In the air, Klaus hung tremulously, his face contorting through a series of horrified expressions. He gasped, and fell.

“No!” Diego yelled.

Vanya threw her arm out, and for a moment, it seemed that Klaus’ descent slowed. But it didn’t stop, and Diego heard bones shatter in his mind.

Luther stomped into the hallway, grumbling about the place in the garden being useless. Klaus fell into him with a hard _smack_ and he went down like a giant sack of potatoes.

Diego finally made his way over, Vanya not far behind him. Five appeared beside them, still with that irritating, interested expression on his face. Diego shoved him out of the way as he reached their brothers.

“Ow,” Luther groaned, sitting up with Klaus sprawled across his lap. “I mean, _ow_.”

“Shut up, you’re a superstrong primate,” Diego snapped, kneeling down beside them. “Klaus? Hey, man, you alive?”

The psychic snapped upright, gasping. “Holy fuck, this place is haunted!”

Five turned to Vanya and gave her an approving nod. “Excellent work,” he told her.

_

“I don’t like this,” Klaus said, lying on Diego’s bedroom floor. “I mean I really, _really_ don’t like this.”

“Would you shut up?” Diego groaned, trying to smother himself with a pillow. He’d given up a night of superhero-ing for this, and now Luther was pissed because Allison went all on her own. Five actually went with her, but no one was telling him that, because he’d be even _more_ pissed.

“The ghosts have always just been there, you know? Wanting to be heard and all that. But when I’m in the air, it’s like they’re about to grab me and take me away.”

“I won’t let that happen. Now shut the fuck up.”

Klaus tossed and turned for a while. Then he said, “I mean, it’s just the loss of control. No stability. Feet off the ground. Can you imagine?”

Diego sighed deeply and gave up on sleep. “It’s like flying, Klaus. Who doesn’t want to fly?”

“I love flying! I love being high! I mean, _actually_ high, you know?”

“I know, Klaus.”

“This isn’t like being high, Diego!”

Diego contemplated several ways to knock himself or knock Klaus out. He’d give his right arm for a good sedative right now. But that hadn’t worked for Vanya, and Klaus’ self-medication hadn’t worked for him, either. It occurred to him that, if he hadn’t been so terrified, he would have learned to deal with this particular quirk a long time ago. “Hey. Get over here.”

“People will talk,” Klaus said, but got up off the floor and fell heavily onto Diego’s bed anyway.

“I don’t care if they talk, if it meant not having to listen to you talk ever again.”

“Rude. Rude and mean. Uncalled for.”

“Is not,” he muttered.

They were silent for a long time, and Diego began to hope that Klaus had fallen asleep after all. But then he shifted and stared at Diego, his eyes wide in the darkness. “Do you think I can learn to control it?”

Diego sighed into his pillow. “I know you can, asshole.”

_

They were in a graveyard, somewhere, because of course this clusterfuck couldn’t get anymore cliched. They needed to speak to one of Dad’s old victims. It had been a nasty shock for all of them to find that they hadn’t been the first batch of superpowered freaks that he’d tried to adopt. Before them, it had been accidents; kids bitten by radioactive insects or experimented on by evil scientists. He hadn’t killed them, but he’d pushed them until they’d burned out.

“He didn’t even expect them to live,” Klaus whispered, sitting in the middle of a Hargreeves circle, right next to one of the gravestones. “It was just practice.”

Diego couldn’t help but glance at Five, standing next to Vanya. He wasn’t Dad, and Diego knew that. Five actually loved them, and Diego trusted him. But how far would he push the walking time bomb before deciding that it was time to go back further?

Klaus took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He’d been practising this with Ben, Diego knew. Slowly, his hands started to jerk and twist, going through a complicated series of motions that he may not have been entirely aware of. Then he started to rise into the air. Diego tensed up, but didn’t move. They were all watching him keenly, waiting for a sign that he might fall. Diego had the distinct sense that he would concuss himself on Luther’s forehead if they both tried to dart forward and catch Klaus at the same time, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

Klaus began talking, not to them, but to the dead. It was hard to make sense of his words. Vanya kept track, taking careful notes, but when Diego glanced over her shoulder, he couldn’t make head nor tails of it. Maybe Klaus himself would decipher it all later on.

As he hovered, the wind picked up around them. His eyes snapped open, blue-white and terrified, but he didn’t fall. Diego thought he saw the shimmery outline of another person hovering in front of him – Ben, he recognised, keeping him calm and stable. Other figures appeared around him, though none as solid or recognisable as Ben. They spun in circles, their eyes wide and white, making Diego shudder. Klaus’ hands fell to either side, palm up, the _Hello_ and _Goodbye_ clearly visible on each.

It was kind of terrifying, but also incredible. For better or worse, this was always what Klaus’ life had been leading up to.

Eventually, the wind died down and Klaus slowly descended back to the ground. Each of them rushed forward as soon as his butt hit the grass. They touched his shoulders and head, waiting for him to open his eyes. At some point, they fluttered open, human once again.

“The dead are so _bitter_ ,” he said exasperatedly, but there was a very small spark of triumph in his eyes. Diego felt a surge of pride for him, and had to stand up and turn away so no one would see him grin.

_

After that, they couldn’t get Klaus to stop floating. He drifted after Diego and Allison as they went on patrol, pushed himself off the wall to get from one side of the kitchen to the other while Vanya was making breakfast, and hovered directly over Diego’s stomach in the mornings just to fall onto it as soon as he woke up.

“Fuck,” Diego wheezed, shoving Klaus off on one such morning. “I fucking _hate_ you.”

“I’m practising!” Klaus said, hopping back onto the bed.

“You don’t need practice at being a pain in the ass,” Diego grumbled, rolling over onto his other side. It was too early for this shit.

Klaus stretched out beside him. “The hour before dawn is full of ghosts,” he said casually.

Diego grunted. “Then stay here until the sun goes up,” he said. “And then get lost.”

_

They learned a lot, during Five's intermediate period. Vanya learned some control, Diego and Allison learned how to be heroes all over again, and Luther learned a bit about how to be a proper leader. Diego didn't know if Five learned anything, because he was as much of an ass as always, but the way he took Vanya's hand and spoke to her with gentle patience was something their dad had never done with them, so it was probably okay. As for Klaus, well, he learned another way to piss his siblings off. And maybe a better way to communicate with the dead and bring them forth to fight his battles.

In his unspoken, sentimental moments, Diego thought that they might have all taken another step towards being a better family.

 


End file.
